By The Way...

This is the most awesome article ever: Rock's Oldest Joke: Yelling 'Freebird!' in a Theater (AOL-only):

Yelling "Freebird!" has been a rock cliché for years, guaranteed to elicit laughs from drunks and scorn from music fans who have long since tired of the joke. And it has spread beyond music, prompting the Chicago White Sox organist to add the song to her repertoire and inspiring a greeting card in which a drunk holding a lighter hollers "Freebird!" at wedding musicians.

Bands mostly just ignore the taunt. But one common retort is: "I've got your 'free bird' right here." That's accompanied by a middle finger. It's a strategy Dash Rip Rock's former bassist Ned Hickel used. According to fans' accounts of shows, so have Jewel and Hot Tuna's Jack Casady. Jewel declines to comment. Mr. Casady says that's "usually not my response to those kind of things."

Others have offered more than the bird. On a recent live album, Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock declares that "if this were the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and you were going to die in 20 minutes -- just long enough to play 'Freebird' -- we still wouldn't play it." Dash Rip Rock often plays "Stairway to Freebird," a mash-up of the Skynyrd epic and Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" that Mr. Davis boasts lasts "less than two minutes. ... You're finished before people get mad."

It does leave open the question of what Lynyrd Skynyrd does when people shout "Freebird!" at a concert. I guess they actually play it.

Admit it: You've yelled "Freebird!" at a concert at some point in your life. Go on, confess it! The comment thread would be a good place to do so.

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• #10 Comment from hiddenboston 
  3/25/05 4:14 PM | Permalink

  When I played in a band (in the early 1990s), all I ever heard was, "Play some Eagles, man" or "Play Peaceful Easy Feeling" over and over again. Didn't matter what club. Never heard anyone say "Freebird," though.
  
  -MH
  
  <a href='http://hiddenboston.com'>Bostons Hidden Restaurants</a>
• #9 Comment from hiddenboston 
  3/25/05 4:13 PM | Permalink

  When I played in a band (in the early 1990s), all I ever heard was, "Play some Eagles, man" or "Play Peaceful Easy Feeling" over and over again. Didn't matter what club. Never heard anyone say "Freebird," though.
  
  -MH
  
  <a href='http://hiddenboston.com'>Boston's Hidden Restaurants</a>
• #8 Comment from fdtate714 
  3/17/05 9:06 PM | Permalink

  Yes, I've yelled "Freebird" at a concert before, but only when the band was lousy or it was truly inappropriate.
  
• #7 Comment from rivercitygirl1 
  3/17/05 6:33 PM | Permalink

  I was at a John Scofield concert (he's a jazz guitarist) when some guy yelled "Freebird".  John actually played the intro to it.  It was hilarious.  I live in Jacksonville and here, most folks think Skynryd is God.
  Tami
• #6 Comment from chasferris 
  3/17/05 6:12 PM | Permalink

  I'm eighty, don't drink, never been to a rock concert, and I can only wonder what the hell you're talking about.  Freebird?  Does Stan Freburg know about this?